The sample sentence given needs to be rephrased to be able to express the intended meaning because with the way it is worded, we cannot tell which patient had which illness.

If what we want to say is: "each patient only had one illness...," we may phrase the sentence the following way:

One patient had a cold, another one had a flu, the next one had a stomachache, and the last one had a headache.

If what we want to say is each patient had all illnesses listed, we may phrase the sentence the following way:

Each patient had a cold, flu, stomachache, and headache.

Nowhere in the above sentences is the word "respective" or "respectively" found as these words are intended for the following usage:

RESPECTIVELY is an adverb which means "in the order given."Example sentence: I gave the bag and book to Trish and Sam, respectively.(i.e. I gave the bag to Trish and I gave the book to Sam.)

RESPECTIVE is an adjective which means "separate."Example sentence: The animal trainer motioned the lion and tiger to go into their respective cages.(i.e. The lion went into his own cage and the tiger went into his own cage.)

n a summary of a short story, one of my students wrote "the crime night" when he meant to say "the night of the crime," but I'm having a hard time explaining why it's wrong.

I feel like we can say "on test day" (the day the test will take place), "on premier day" for a movie premier, "on invasion day" (but I'm not sure about "on the invasion day"...). Does it have to do with whether the event is planned? Repeated? Historical?

Hi there! Wasn't this the same question of ErinTexTerm back on Jan. 06, 2013? I think I also posted a reply on Sept. 15, 2013.

There are phrases that are grammatically correct but sound awkward when not used in the right context. Good examples of such phrases are "crime night" and "night of the crime." "Crime night" is more appropriate for usage as a title for a TV program or topic of discourse. "Night of the crime" is more appropriate for usage when talking about the specific time when a crime occurred.

Examples:

CONTEXT: A TV channel promoting programs featuring crime stories that will be aired on Mondays.AWKWARD: Watch night of the crime every Monday.BETTER: It's crime night every Monday on ----- channel.

CONTEXT: Narration of a crime storyAWKWARD: On crime night, nobody could confirm the suspect's whereabouts.BETTER: On the night of the crime, nobody could confirm the suspect's whereabouts.